Sunday is probably Anthony Spencer’s last regular season game as a Dallas Cowboy

Anthony Spencer apparently thinks he may not be a Cowboy next year. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the season. There may not be another pass rusher in the NFL that has gotten as many favorable matchups as Anthony Spencer, and we’re not just talking about one-on-one opportunities against the right tackle. Opposing teams not only rarely give their RT help against Spencer, but they also occasionally leave Spencer one-on-one with a TE or a RB. For 8 games in 2009, he took advantage. The rest of his time as a pro, he hasn’t capitalized on favorable matchups nearly as often as he should have:

Greg Ellis understudy Anthony Spencer

Games

Tackles

Sacks

FF

2007

17

37

3

2

2008

16

34

1.5

0

2009 (first 10 games)

10

32

0

0

Awesome Anthony Spencer

Games

Tackles

Sacks

FF

2009 (last 8 games)

8

47

8

2

“Just a guy” Anthony Spencer

Games

Tackles

Sacks

FF

2010

16

63

5

2

2011

16

62

6

3

In the past three years, Spencer has been in on 2793 snaps. That leads the team. Victor Butler, meanwhile, has been in on 502, or roughly 60% of one season. Butler’s numbers over that period:

Victor Butler

Tackles

Sacks

FF

502 snaps from 2009-2011

64

8

2

Spencer can still help the team, and he has at least one more big game to show something great, but the Cowboys need to handle his situation smartly. For one, it’s probably time to consider drafting what they think can be a stud OLB if a good one can be had in the 2012 draft, and/or adding a veteran pass rusher in free agency. If a team out there makes a dumb offer to Spencer, let him walk. It’s not as if we’re talking about a significant downgrade from Spencer to Victor Butler.

[...] this year to make the Cowboys feel like they have to retain him. Anthony Spencer is a guy I talked about earlier in the week. I don’t think he’ll be back. Neither will Alan Ball. Neither will Frank [...]

Thanks for that insightful and incisive commentary, Rory. We here at BTb Industries recognize that commentors such as yourself are the lifeblood of any successful blog and we look forward to more such trenchant arguments and piercing observation from you in the years to come. Thanks for reading and, please, go fuck yourself.

In 1996, three scientists from the University of Georgia — Henry E. Adams, Ph.D., Lester W. Wright Jr., Ph.D., and Bethany Lohr — published a study called “Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?” in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.

The study involved twenty-nine nonhomophobic men and thirty-five homophobic men…All sixty-four men described themselves as completely straight. Each man was shown three kinds of videotapes: heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian.

While watching the male homosexual videos, the homophobic men were more than twice as likely to be aroused as the nonhomophobic men — 54 to 24 percent. Only 20% of the homophobic men showed little or no arousal while watching the homosexual videos.